Breakdown of La sua musica riempirà la pianura e perfino lo scoiattolo si fermerà ad ascoltare.
e
and
ascoltare
to listen
la musica
the music
fermarsi
to stop
riempire
to fill
perfino
even
suo
his
la pianura
the plain
lo scoiattolo
the squirrel
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Questions & Answers about La sua musica riempirà la pianura e perfino lo scoiattolo si fermerà ad ascoltare.
Why do we say la sua musica instead of suo musica or musica sua?
In Italian, possessive adjectives (mio, tuo, suo, ecc.) normally
- Agree in gender and number with the noun they modify. Here musica is feminine singular, so we use sua (fem. sing.).
- Are almost always preceded by the definite article (il, la, i, le) except in a few idiomatic cases (e.g. a casa mia, a piedi nudi).
Putting it all together, la sua musica is the correct form.
How is the future tense riempirà formed from riempire?
To form the simple future of regular -ire verbs like riempire,
- Drop the final -e of the infinitive → riempir-
- Add the future endings: -ò, -ai, -à, -emo, -ete, -anno
So riempire → riempir-à (“he/she/it will fill”).
Why does riempirà have an accent on the final à?
In Italian future tense, the third person singular ending is -à (with a grave accent) to show stress. This distinguishes it from other forms and ensures the stress falls on that last syllable (ri-em-pi-RÀ).
What does perfino mean, and how is it different from anche?
Both perfino and anche can translate as “even” or “also,” but:
- anche = “also,” neutral addition (“He also sings”).
- perfino = “even,” with extra emphasis or surprise (“He even sings”).
In our sentence, perfino lo scoiattolo stresses that it’s so powerful that even the squirrel stops to listen.
Why is there lo before scoiattolo? In English we’d say “even squirrel.”
Italian uses the definite article (il, la, lo) before most nouns—even when English drops “the.” Here:
- lo
- scoiattolo = “the squirrel.”
So perfino lo scoiattolo literally means “even the squirrel.”
- scoiattolo = “the squirrel.”
Why is si fermerà reflexive? How would we translate si and how does fermare differ from fermarsi?
- fermarsi is the reflexive form “to stop oneself.”
- fermare without si means “to stop something/somebody else.”
- In our sentence, the squirrel stops itself, so we use si fermerà (“it will stop”).
In English we don’t need a reflexive pronoun, so we simply say “even the squirrel will stop to listen.”
Why is it ad ascoltare instead of just a ascoltare?
Italian preposition a (to) often contracts to ad before a word starting with a vowel, for euphony.
So a ascoltare becomes ad ascoltare (“to listen”).
Could we move perfino elsewhere? For example, Lo scoiattolo si fermerà perfino ad ascoltare?
Yes, you can place perfino in front of the element it emphasizes. Both are correct:
- Perfino lo scoiattolo si fermerà ad ascoltare.
- Lo scoiattolo si fermerà perfino ad ascoltare.
The nuance is similar; the emphasis slightly shifts but the meaning “even the squirrel will stop to listen” remains.